Method of and apparatus for drying and superheating a vapor.



e. H. GIBSUN. METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR DRYING AND SUPERHEATING A VAPOR.

APPLICATION FILED MAY II, ISI-I.

Patented Jan. 18, 1916.

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METHOD 0? ND APPARATUS EUR DRHNG AND SUPERHEATING A VAPOR.

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'QEORGL E. GIBSON. OE MONTCLAIR, NEW JERSEY.

METHOD 6F A ND :"LPPARATUS FOR DRYING AND SUPERHEATING A VAPOR.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 18, 1916.

Application filed in 11, 1914. Serial iIo. 831625.

To (IN/whom may cons-cm iie it knownthatl. Gnonon H. Gist-ion,

a citizen'of the United States of America,

tion is to provide an improved inethodf,

and apparatus for drying a vapor and super-heating it, and is especially intended for drying and superheating steamfor use in operating steam turbincs,and other; steam In a preferred mode of carrying out-my invention, 1 take saturated steam at the o1'-' the steam intokinetic or velocity energy. I

utilize the velocity thus imparted to the steam to separate out of the steam thewater particles carried by the steam in the man ner, for instance, in which water is separated out of Steam .by ordinary. centrifugal separators. After the steam is thus dried, I

adiabatically 'iGCOIHPlGSS the steam to a pressure equal, or approximately equal to its original pressure, as by passing it through a suitable recompressing nozzle or passage.

As the steam expands adiabatically, a por- 'tion of. the steam condenses, and the heat of vaporizationoi' the condensed steam augments the energy of the uncondensed steam.

At the end ofits expansion. the steam -is freed not only from the water which may have been originally. admixed with the sat? urated steam, butalso from the water of condensation formed during the expansion. The. steam at the beginning of the recompressingoperation is saturated and conse quently becomes superheated as recoinpression proceeds, and in practice a very considerableamount of superheat may thus be obtained. The expansion and recompression should not only be adiabatic, but should" also be as nearly isentropic as is practically feasible, in practice may be, substan tially isentropic.

a paratus required in carrying out my invention is very simple and compact.

Practically all that is needed is an expanding nozzle, 2. rccon pressing nozzle, and pro; visionsat or ad acent the connected ends of these nozzles for changing the direction of flow of the steam, and collecting anddisposing the liquid particles ejected, by reason of their inertia from the steam as the latter has its di'rection'changed. The simplicity and el'iiciency of the apparatus required permits of its use in many ways Where the use of ordinary forms of superheating apparatus heretofore employedjs not feasible at all or is open to many objections. In particular, my invention isreadily applicable to the successive superheating-of the steam .as it passes from one stage .to another of-a multistage turbine. The various features of novelty which charactcrize my invention arepointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this specification. For abetter understanding of the invention, however, and of the advantages possessed by it, reference should behad to the accompanying drawings and descriptive matter,

'in which I have illustrated and described preferred and novel forms of apparatus for carrying out my novel method.

Of the drawings: Figure l is a sectionale plan, the section being taken on the linell of Fig. 2; Fig. 2 is an elevation, partly in section. .on the line 22 of Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a heat diagram; Fig. 4 is an elevation of another form of apparatus; Fig. 5 is a section on the line 55 of Fig. 4; and Fig. 6 is i a partial sectional elevationof a steam turbine incorporating provisions for drying and superheating steam in accordance with apex or smaller end connected to the apex or smaller end of the nozzle A by thehelical passage C. port C formed through the lowermost point in the wall of the passage permits water thrown out againstith'e "outer wall of.the passage C to pass downward throughthe pipe D into a suitable trap E.

The thermo and kinetic changes occurring in the steam as it passes through the apps;-

' line Y. While the JrespectiveIy. the contrary,

' the same fl fall points along curves; T, T, and

;curves or isotherms; and S represents the s'at 1'irat ion curve, and S- a initial ,con 'tion. of 2 th ratus in Figs. 1 Ind 2, isillustrated by the diagram shown in Fig. 3.' In this diagram the entropy of the steam is represented rid thetotalheat of steameis represented gig distances measured parallel to the line by thedistances measured parallel to. the entropy and total heat of the "steam 'representedby any point in the diagram increases when the distance of the pointfromthe lines Y and X, respectively, .isincreased, the'lines .Y and X do not represent zero.- entropy and total heat units,

rep X r'epresents'a tota In thexdiagram'shown in Fig. 8, P','P and P9" are; pressure curves, the pressure bein each of sai T are" temperature I nts an entropy of 1.50- and the line quality or moismrepercenta e curve ,v

.Assumin t at the oint 1 represents the eexpanding nozzle A, andv that-the steam is saturated,-but without free 'moisture, then the point 1 must lie at the. intersection of the saturation curve- S-by the curve of the expanding 'nozzle A, an

' The changes in the conin as it asses through the as the water is initial pressure P dition of the stea ejected therefrom as the steam ,passes newextending upward from the '.through' the channel 7 the .verticalzisentropic g the; int 1 with a point 2 beneath it, an

" l fi el a fe hea at h oi the steam. which should.

C, is represented by by.-t 0, portion 2-3- ofthe pressure curv P the line Y.

heat of 1100 B. T. U.

e steam as'.it enters line 1 -2.. connecting extending throughthe point 2 and inte ,t-'

:ing the saturation curve S at'the point 8. The

..change in condition of the 'steainms it is represented bythe vertical isentropic int 3 to the; point 4 Where. the isentropic line I in? tersects the 'fina'l pressure eral, the final pressure,- curveP, will slightly In. theisentrp ic. expansion of thdsteam representedg by the line 1-2, the total heat .of e steam will decrease-and a portion of the will-be condensed. Assuming ,an

initialgpresaurel 1H of 200 lbs. absolute, and aarpressure Pip: 120-lbs.

absolute, then' the v steam will be 1198.1 ,and whenexpa'ndedto the'pressure U enc'e B. neglecting losses which will. be represented by the veloc ty of: approximately 1431 feet er-seeo'nd'as it travels through the assage C. ongthe assumptionsmadejabove t e per- .centii iolfmoisturejmthe 88 at th pom 2,-r6ff ""nte'd by the quality "line S, will passes through the recompressing nozzle.

curve P. In gen-- indicated by theless than the pressure representediby the curve P 11513 B. U. The heat diifer- 1232.8 B.T. U.

" kinetic energy converted into heatthus recovered adds materially 1 operation, t

' -ingis accomplished by means 'ofapproximately per cent the steam will be free moisture. The substantially isentropic recompression of the steam occurring in the passage of the steam through the nozzle B is represented .in Fig. 3 bythe line During this the steam; will recompression, the pressure of g crease from the P, of 120 lbsgia gsolute, to a final pressure P, slightly lower than the initial pressure P The line 3-4 will beof the same len th, or practicall of the same length,' as-tli e ine 12. This dual B.- T. U. In comparing the final total heat-of of 11981 B. T. 'of thefact that .036 of steam has been ej dens'ation through the port C, and that saturated saturated without pressure I pressure is assumed in 3 to be 195 lbs. absolute, and in practice wi of that figure. "The are the Steam table This 54 of saturated heat of 40.8 B. T.."U.' gives a. final total heat. of 1232.8

with the initial total heat 1 1 U., sight must not be lost of. each ,original ,pound ecte'das ,water of com nearly "all of the difference of; some 31.913..

U. between the total heat of-each .036 1b. l

of the ejected" water and its initial, total heat, when in the has been added "to, each .964 lb. of-st'eam entering'the'rnozzle B.

form of saturated steam I at 200 lbs. absolute,

In 'practice, neither the expansion nor the recompress'ion will this tends toward mum final ressune obtainable. other hand, it

. On I the steam. If the port 0" is returned directly to the boiler, ithe efficiency It is apparent, thev initial ex ofthe operati obtained by recompression.

While'the small l0ss 0 l pressure 'inthe s11 s isthe case also wit narv ,superh atersy i'n' which the:

plied froman'external source, and

-sure lossesin the two cases are comparable ifise of my invention involves j-a be purely isentropic and 5 a.reduction in the 'maxi-:

is probable thatsome of the of the ejected water will be if heat and absorbed 'hy the a water ejected throughthe of couiz e, that thegrehter t ans on of the steam; i; e.," the greater the distance between P. and. greater the resultant condensati "a steam and the higher the-superheat wh'c the o'rdisuperheatr heat sup-.5 the pres--- me se in the super-heating operation, thus permit-.

ting the use of cast iron in many cases where cast steel would otherwise be required. The

heat loss from thesteam line will be materially lower, of course,'with the lower steam temperature than it would withthe higher.

Superheating the steam after, instead of before its passage through the steam line reduces the colume of the steam to be'handled and consequently, the size of the piping and.

2} valves, etc., required. This. reduction in volume is partly offset by the fact that, with my invention, apart of the steam passed 1 into the superheater is not superheated, but- ..is'ejected as water of condensation. For in= 5 stance, on the assumptions made above, the steam condensed amounts to 3.6% of the total volume, while the increase in volume, due to superheating the steam 50 F.', would he-about.6%.

39 -Many difierent forms of apparatus may be employed in'thermO-Kinetically drying and superheating steam inhccordance with my presentinvention; and inFigs. land 5 .1 ihave'illustrated a preferred form of apparatus which I COHSldGI to posses substan:

tial adyantages over the simpler form of apparatus shown in- Figs. 1 and 2. The apparatus shown in Figs. sand o comprisesa casing formed with co-ax1al annular chamao ,bers;F and G and central connectingpassage H. lhe chamber F is provided'at its periphery with a tangential inlet F, and the ,chamher is rovided at its periphery with an outlet G,-which preferably, though not necessarily, leads tangentially away from the chamber H.- In this apparatus the steam nteringthe chamber F thro h the inlet F passes along a spiral path to t e. central pas sage H through which it passes outof the chamber F. As the radius/of gyr ation of this spiral path decreases," the velocity of flow of the steam increases in accordance with the law of-conservationof moment of momentum. The increase in velocity and 5 kinetic energy of the steam in passing through the chamber F is accompanied by a corresponding reduction" in pressure, and vwith the chamber F properly designed in accordance withknown principles, the exso ansion of the steam in the chamber F may he made substantially isentropic. The steam issuing from the chamber F will travel through the passage 11 inla spiral path, and the moisture carriedhy the steam will be thrown hyloentriiagal :zt'oroe against the' successively passed, K,

' h, from which it is conveyed away to a suitor the passage H, and will the latter into the annular we. z chamber H surrounding and inner edge to the passage H. w The. stat lectin in the chamber-'11" passes through pipe to a suitable trapE, from whence may he returned to the boiler'or to st other place where hot "water may ads geously be used. Water thrown a ainst l. peripheral wall of the chamber a} may removed through .dra'in DA. and trap The steam entering the chainher G throu;.,. the passage passesina spiral path'ito the outlet G, and in passing through the clnmr f her G the steam loses kinetic energy gains in potential energy, in accordance 1 the'same principles which cause the rer energy transformation occurring in chamber F. The same principles govern formation of the two chambers F and is.

The appa'ratus'shown in Figs. and be used in the form shown, or with changes, for many difierent purposes, explained in my prior application Ser. A- 813,241, filedJanuary 20, 1914,'whercin i have made generic'claims on this type of apparatus. i thermo-kine'tic method of and ew for drying and superheat-ing steam may used .for many different purposes, and Fig.6 1 have illustrated oneof the spec uses to which my invention may adva V geously be put. The special use illustrated in Fig. 6 is the supcrheating ofsteam it passes from one Stage to another of a melt-i 102'; stage turbine. In the somewhat convexe I} .tional illustration of Fig. 6, I represents the turbine housing, and J, .Vand J 3 represent turbine wheels through which the steam :is.

K and K repre-- 105 senting the stationary nozzles through which the steamis delivered to the wheels J ",J 2 y l and J respectivelyg interposed between the Wheels J andv J is a superheating device substantially similar in form to the appa- 11o ratus shown inFigs. 4 and 5; and comprising an expanding chamber 9', a P

'ing chamberg and a centralconnecting-passa e h, all corresponding ;generally to the chambers F and G andpassage H of. the apparatus'shown in Figs 4 and 5. The peripheral inlet 7" to the ,chamber f receives the steam leaving the vanes of the wheel J and the chamher'g' is open at its periphery to deliver the steam issuing from the chamher 9 directly to the nozzles-K The water ejected from the steam as it travels through the central passage. it collects in' achamber able trap e by means of a pipe; :5. As shown in Fig. 6, the superheating provisions employed between-the wheels 3'' and J are duplicated between the wheels J? and J The very importantadvantages of superheating steam between stages in multistage 1st I scribed the best modes and, the best forms of a ine iorcarrying out my in ve ntion,it will be apparent to those skilled in :the art-that many changes may betmade in the forms of the modes and apparatus specifically disclosed herein, with- 10 apparatus nowknown to '1 out departing from the spirit of .my invention.

Having now described niy invention, what I claun as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is:

2o 1'. The method" hf treating a va ponwhich.

consists? in expanding the vapor t'oiconvert some of its potential energy into kinetic energy, separating suspended liquid from the uncon ensed vapor; and then utilizing 5' the kinetic energy of the uncondensed vapor in .efl'ectinga recompreaion of the latter.

. 2. The method of drying and an rhea'ting a vapor which consists in expan ing the vapor to vert some of its potential energy into kinetic energy, utilizing the velocity of "th 'apo 'and suspended liquid, first insep eating the} latter'from the nncondensed vapox-,indjthtn in eflecting a recompression of' l -euergy, separating ,t-he suspended: liquid 1, ,from the uncondensed vapor and then ut1liz-,-, ingth'e mechanicalenergvin effecting a -re-,

" Q the vapor whereby the latter is ii'm' w d; '1,

.';The, method ofldrymg and superheatjing'ava'por which consists lnletlectmg' a subitantially isentropic expansion of the vapor,

eliminating suspeh ded. liquid. from the uni condenscd'vapor,jand'then utilizing the. ve-

locity theeirpandedvapor in effecting a Licence through said passage.-

recompressiqn of the uncondensed" vapor whereby. thelatter is superheated. a 4. Apparatus for drying and superheating a vapor, eomprisingin combination, an 45 expansion nozzle and a recompressing nozzle through which the vaporis passed in series, and provisions for eliminating liquid of con- (lGIlStltlOIll'GSllltlllg from the expansion .of--

the vapor in'said expansionnozz'le andiother 50 liquid mixed with the .vaporrlbefore its recompression in said reeompressing nozzle.-

- Apparatus for drying and. superheating a vapor, comprising .in combinatioman 216: and a connecting passage, and provisions liquid from yaporpassing from the expan: SlOIl nozzle into the recompressing nozzleu;

v a. 4 00 6. Apparatus fordrying and si1perheat-.

I mg a vapor, vcomprising in combination; and;

expanding nozzle, and a recoinpressing nozzle-und a passage connectlngsaid. nozzles all so arranged that vapor expanded 'insaid v expansion nozzle follows? agcurived i-path through said passage mto saidfcompressmn nozzle, and provisions associatedwithpaid. passage .for collecting and @removing water thrown tothe outer side-oflsaidjpathhp IQ centrifugal acti0n.m

7. The method wofv treating a'vzqoor, I.

consists in expanding the ,vapor ,toleonvert ,a; some of itspotential euergv nto mechanical;

compression-of the uncondensed vapor.

- GEORGEJ-L GIBSON; Witnesses; a i g v PAUL A. Bauer-mas, 1 v

' STANLEY D. 'Bnows. 1

expansion nozzle anda necompressing noz-i 55 

